My Memory Journey

My first encounter with memory techniques came unexpectedly through my grandmother's Awake! magazines. Though we weren't regularly attending Jehovah's Witness services due to transportation challenges, these publications became my window to fascinating knowledge during TV-restricted hours at grandma's house.

Despite this exciting discovery, I didn't apply the technique beyond that initial exercise, and the memory gradually faded as I focused on typical childhood pursuits.

My interest in memory techniques was reignited when I discovered TED Talks. One presentation in particular stood out - Joshua Foer's "Feats of Memory Anyone Can Do". The talk resonated deeply, reminding me of that long-ago magazine exercise.

While inspired, I also felt intimidated. The memory feats Foer described - memorizing hundreds of digits, multiple decks of cards, long lists of words - seemed impossibly difficult. This self-doubt prevented me from seriously pursuing memory techniques at the time.

Over the years, I'd occasionally watch memory demonstrations, like world champion Ben Pridmore memorizing cards on talk shows. While impressive, these displays only reinforced my belief that such skills were beyond my reach.

Everything changed when I rediscovered mind mapping and researched Tony Buzan, its creator. After acquiring his book "Use Your Memory", I initially felt the same intimidation - the exercises seemed too challenging, and I set the book aside for months.

The turning point came when I committed to reading any book for at least 20 minutes daily. This simple discipline brought me back to Buzan's work, and this time, something clicked.

I applied these memory techniques extensively during my engineering degree, particularly in the second semester. The results were transformative:

Engineering Materials

Achieved outstanding results in this theory-heavy subject by systematically using memory palaces and association techniques to master complex concepts.

Polymer Chemistry

Scored 100% on the second chemistry test by memorizing all polymer theories and concepts using advanced mnemonic systems.

Completed construction of my Major System, a comprehensive phonetic number memorization framework. This allowed me to memorize numbers with unprecedented efficiency.

Began challenging myself with card memorization, aiming to recall a full deck in under 5 minutes. Delved deeper into mnemonic literature by masters like Dominic O'Brien and Harry Lorayne.

Continuing to expand my memory palace network (now over 2,400 loci) and refine techniques. Committed to sharing these powerful methods through Memory DOJO to help others achieve similar breakthroughs.